New rules require morning-after pill for rape victims

October 19, 2007

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A new regulation requires all hospitals in Pennsylvania to provide emergency contraception to women who have been raped or sexually assaulted, but hospitals can opt out of doing so if the institution has religious or moral objections.

The Independent Regulatory Review Commission on Thursday adopted the rules, the first statewide to address the touchy subject of how hospitals must deal with emergency contraception.

Critics contend the new rule makes it too easy for hospitals to apply for exemptions.

“We certainly think more work needs to be done to make sure that every victim of rape is given the complete care that she should get as a matter of course,” said Larry Frankel, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania.

“It should not matter which hospital she goes to, because she doesn’t get to choose that. There are better ways of accommodating those with religious objections.”

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State Health Department officials said hospitals claiming an exemption must inform victims of the availability of emergency contraception and arrange for transportation to a facility that provides it.

Critics contend that state officials should have pushed for a requirement that hospitals with religious objections bring in a contractor to dispense emergency contraception. Connecticut requires such a remedy.

“When you start talking about transporting a woman who has been raped, it’s very problematic,” state Rep. Daylin Leach said. “If this was your daughter lying on a hospital gurney, bloody and hysterical after being raped, would you want that for her?”

Leach, D-Montgomery, is sponsoring legislation that would require all hospitals to tell sexual assault victims that they can provide emergency contraception in the form of the Plan B pill.

Leach has said more than half of Pennsylvania hospitals do not provide emergency contraception, and that each year 25,000 rape victims in the United States become pregnant.

The state cannot go much further because of laws governing health care facilities and religious freedom, said Joanne Corte Grossi, deputy secretary for health promotion and disease prevention at the Health Department.

Plan B, commonly called the morning-after pill, is a high dose of the most common ingredient in regular birth-control pills. It significantly lowers the risk of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of sex.

The House delayed voting on Leach’s bill earlier this month, after several hours of emotional debate. Another House vote is scheduled Monday. If passed, the bill will go to the Senate.